In France, it came as little surprise last month when the right-wing National Rally won 30 percent of the vote in the European parliamentary elections, securing 30 of the country’s allocated 81 seats, and sidelining French President Emmanuel Macron’s liberal Renaissance party.

Over the past week, the continent of Europe has undergone a seismic shift to the right.
Elections to the European Parliament have seen significant gains by far-right nationalist parties in countries including Germany, Greece, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, and Hungary.

The sudden, unexpected death this month of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, and the feverish speculation about the effect it will have on his country’s immediate future, is a reminder that the consequences of geopolitical events can rarely be predicted.

Judging by an extraordinarily tone-deaf collaboration between a New York photographer and the Israeli army, the past seven months have been an endless round of fun and laughter for the Israeli soldiers delivering death and destruction on an industrial scale in Gaza.

As any tourist to London who has stumbled upon the quintessentially British piece of street theater in Hyde Park known as Speakers’ Corner will attest, the UK has long had an enviable reputation as a bastion of free speech.

In the Netherlands, a formerly fringe far-right party wins more seats in the Dutch general election than any other political group.